Kitchen Queries

Welcome to Kitchen Queries, where the nigella.com team will answer your cooking or food related questions. We’d love you to submit some of your recipe problems, dilemmas or queries for us to get our teeth into!

Please note, we are only able to answer questions selected for publication and aren't able to enter into personal correspondence.

Latest Queries

Baby Aubergines

Where can I buy baby aubergines? I haven't been able to find any in the supermarket.

Posted by Tigress. Answered on 2nd Nov 2012 at 12.00

From the nigella team:

Baby aubergines can be found in Sainsbury's, Tesco and Watrose and on their websites, plus the Ocado website. However we understand that availabilty does vary according to region so they may not be found everywhere. You could also try local greengrocers, or see if they can order some for you.

If the baby aubergines do prove to be elusive then you could try buying small aubergines and cutting them into quarters lengthways. Cook the aubergine pieces as described in the recipe. Check the aubergines after the cooking time to make sure that they are tender and cooked all the way through. If they still seem slightly undercooked in the centre then return them to the oven for an extra 4 to 5 minutes.

In the past aubergines were salted and left to stand for a short period to let the salt draw out any bitter juices. This is not necessary for baby aubergines and also shouldn't be necessary for the quartered aubergine as nowadays most of the aubergines sold in supermarkets are varieties that don't have bitter juices either.